


I Love This Old Thing

by OhNoCows



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: BCU, Beach City, Beach City University, Brooding Hill, College, Drunken night, F/F, First Fight, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff, Laundry, Laundry day, Married Life, Mathematics, Nerd Ruby, Nurse Sapphire, Old Sweatshirt, Sapphire - Freeform, Students, Teacher Ruby, University, Vodka, ruby - Freeform, ruby/sapphire - Freeform, rupphire, sweatshirt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 02:16:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15596025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OhNoCows/pseuds/OhNoCows
Summary: The sweatshirt had little tears around the ribbed collar and cuffs, and she was pretty sure that the hole where the armpit seam was had gotten a bit wider from the last time she washed it, but it was special to her for so many reasons. Not only did it belong to her favorite person in the world and was her go-to article of clothing she’d pull on if she happened to get chilled, it had been present for many of her and Ruby’s first and most important moments in their relationship.





	1. Not A Huge Fan

**Author's Note:**

> This is a bit of a longer piece that I've divided into multiple chapters because I feel like it's visually easier and not as overwhelming to read longer things if they're broken up.
> 
> It does get a bit spicy at times.
> 
> Also, I could potentially decide to turn some of these chapters into their own little, expanded shorts. Who's to say?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sapphire wasn’t a huge fan of doing laundry.

Sapphire wasn’t a huge fan of doing laundry. It was one of the few things that came with domestic, married life that she didn’t ever enjoy. Washing the clothes, drying the clothes, folding the clothes……it was all just a boring, methodical way to spend her time. Especially when it was supposed to be her day off.

 

Ruby was the one that loved doing laundry. She had told Sapphire many times how amidst her busy life, it was nice to have something relaxing and systematic to lose herself in that wasn’t annoying like grading papers or brain-rotting like T.V. Of course it was Ruby that had to work today, when she had important exams to give out to her students and Sapphire had the next three days off from the hospital and they couldn’t wait any longer to do their laundry or they’d be all out of clothes to wear. So, there Sapphire was, separating her and Ruby’s delicates into a ‘lights’ pile and a ‘darks’ pile while waiting on a load of towels to wash and some other clothes that were in the dryer.

 

After a few minutes she heard the dryer ding out the little melody that let her know that the load was finished, and she found herself humming along to the repeated tune as she emptied out the clothes into a basket. She brought the basket into her and Ruby’s bedroom and folded all of the clothes on the bed before deciding to take a little break.

 

Their room was bright due to the big, clear windows that allowed the sun to shine through and it was October in Beach City, which meant that the weather outside was perfect for leaving the windows open and letting the cool, ocean breeze flow in. She closed her eyes and laid down on their bed, stretching out and breathing in the clean, flowery scent of the fabric softener that their bed sheets held from when she had washed them earlier that morning. If she didn’t have more to get done around the house, she could definitely curl up with a blanket and take a nap right now. She opened her eyes and looked over at the piles of clothes, reaching out and grabbing an old maroon, crewneck sweatshirt that she was all too familiar with.

 

She unfolded it and studied the gold Beach City University crest that had the letters ‘BCU’ above it and the words ‘Mathematics Dept.’ with the year ‘1857’ below it. Her wife was such a little math geek, having gone to university to get her bachelor’s and master’s in order to teach mathematics at the community college in the neighboring town. She hugged it to her chest and inhaled the smell of the fabric. Despite it being washed, there was still the lingering smell of Ruby mixed in with detergent and fabric softener that made Sapphire’s heart flutter a little.

 

The sweatshirt had little tears around the ribbed collar and cuffs, and she was pretty sure that the hole where the armpit seam was had gotten a bit wider from the last time she washed it, but it was special to her for so many reasons. Not only did it belong to her favorite person in the world and was her go-to article of clothing she’d pull on if she happened to get chilled, it had been present for many of her and Ruby’s first and most important moments in their relationship.


	2. First Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For Ruby, being a TA in a level 100 statistics course was a pretty boring gig.

**_When they first met…_ **

 

Cute girl. Six rows up from the front. Three seats towards the middle off of the left side.

The girl had sat in that exact seat for the entire semester so far, probably because of the unspoken rule between everyone that even though there were no _official_ assigned seats in college, once you sat down that was going to be your spot until you handed in your finished final exam and walked out of the lecture hall for the last time.

 

Like clockwork, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 9:55AM the girl would walk into the lecture hall with a to-go cup of coffee, her ear buds blasting music, and Ruby would watch her make her way towards her unassigned ‘assigned’ seat. Was it a bit creepy that Ruby had noticed and then began to observe this routine? Probably. It’s not like she was a stalker or anything, it’s just that among all of the pretty girls Ruby had seen on Beach City University’s campus, this girl was by far the most beautiful.

 

For Ruby, being a TA in a level 100 statistics course was a pretty boring gig. It was comprised mostly of grading assignments and exams that professors didn’t want to waste their time on and working in the poorest excuse for a personal work space she’d ever seen, given to her to use for her ‘office’ hours. Not that anyone ever bothered to come see her.

 

This girl, though, had managed to make it seem like not so bad of a job…even though she’d only be in this course for a semester and Ruby would probably never interact with her beyond being in the same room as her with a hundred and fifty other people.

 

Or so she thought…

 

It was a Wednesday, lecture had gotten out ten minutes early, and as Ruby was putting away her folders of partially graded assignments in her bag she heard someone addressing her.

 

“Excuse me? You’re Ruby, right? The TA?” A smooth, sweet voice spoke softly right in front of her, and when Ruby lifted her head up to look at who was talking, her heart started beating just a little bit faster. The girl was dressed in a navy blue and white striped halter-top sundress with a mustard yellow cardigan and flats to match. Ruby suddenly became very aware of her own attire: Faded blue skinny jeans, black V-neck tee, maroon and gold BCU Mathematics sweatshirt tied around her waist, Converse sneakers…definitely not as classy as the girl in front of her.

 

Ruby pushed up her round, half-rimmed glasses that were slipping down her face. “Oh, um, yeah, that’s me. Hi. Uh, is there…is there something I can help you with?” she asked. Her heart was pounding now. Not only was this the first time speaking to the girl she’s been infatuated with for over a month, but also it was the first time speaking to any student outside of the hour and a half they met for class.

 

The girl smiled at her, “My name is Sapphire. I know that you told us your office hours at the beginning of the semester, but I can’t find them in the syllabus. Could you tell me what they are again, please?”

Ruby was stunned. “Um, yeah definitely. I’m in the basement of the library in room L-003 during Tuesday’s and Thursday’s from 8:00AM to 10:00AM.” She watched as Sapphire took out a pen and her planner to write down the information she had just received.

 

Sapphire finished writing and looked up again, “Thank you so much, I could really use some tutoring. Math has never been my strong suit when it comes to school. Sometimes I hardly know what anyone is talking about in here, and I realized after a couple assignments that it would be in my best interest to start working with you since you’re the TA for the course. That makes you a bit of a math genius in my opinion, and I think with your help it’d be a lot easier for me to understand the material and follow along.”

 

Ruby just stared at her. This couldn’t actually be happening.

 

“I want to get started as soon as possible and, as luck would have it, I’m a morning person, so is around 8:00AM okay?”

 

A couple seconds of silence went by before Ruby snapped out of whatever state she was in to nod vigorously and somehow spurt out “Yes, of course, that absolutely works!”

 

With that, Sapphire gave her a smile, politely said another “Thank you” and walked out of the lecture hall, leaving Ruby behind to process the entire interaction that just took place.


	3. First Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I thought that you lived the other way?” Ruby asked, confused but taking the left turn anyways.

_**Their first kiss…** _

 

It was late Friday night, and they had just gone on a date to see a foreign film that Sapphire had wanted to see for quite some time. Ruby really had no interest in the movie whatsoever, but she did have a lot of interest in Sapphire. The girl had a special way of getting her to agree to just about anything.

 

Ruby was driving back to Sapphire’s apartment to drop her off for the night when Sapphire had told her to take a left turn at the next stop sign, leading them away from Beach City instead of taking a right and going further into the small town.

 

“I thought that you lived the other way?” Ruby asked, confused but taking the left turn anyways. Except for the moon, stars, and their headlights, it was pitch dark on the upward winding road they were now on, and it seemed like there was no destination point in sight.

 

“Oh, I do, but just keep driving this way for a bit. I want to show you something special,” Sapphire replied, smiling. She rolled down her window and stretched out to feel the cool air blow on her hand while her other hand turned up the song on the radio that she was softly singing along to. Ruby, not wanting their date to end anytime soon, couldn’t have been more okay with following her instructions.

 

Eventually, they reached the top of what she learned was a place called ‘Brooding Hill’, and Ruby parked the car while rolling down her own window and opening the sunroof of her old, ’96 Supremo. What she saw in front of her, she couldn’t believe.

 

The sight of Beach City lit up at night greeted her as she stared out of the front windshield of the car. She could see everything: the university, peoples’ homes on the outskirts of town, all of the businesses lining the board walk, and Funland’s arcade, prize booths, and ferris wheel all in bright colors. There must’ve been stars in her eyes, because Sapphire began giggling and grabbed her hand.

 

“I found out about this place my freshmen year. I came up here with a few friends that wanted to have a place to drink and not get caught. After that I started coming up here pretty regularly by myself just to look out at this.” Sapphire had her eyes facing towards Beach City the entire time she was talking, but she had captured Ruby’s attention entirely. “I wanted you to see it, too. I know that you’re a Beach City native, and you’ve taken me to all of these really cool places in town, so I thought I’d try and return the favor.” Sapphire winced, “Please tell me you’ve never been here before?”

 

Ruby squeezed her hand, causing her to look over. “No, I’ve never been here before, actually. I think it’s beautiful up here, thank you for taking me.”

 

There was a moment of comfortable silence, coupled with a glance down at Sapphire’s lips, before Ruby leaned in and lightly brushed her lips against the other girl’s. The kiss lasted a fraction of a second, and the pressure was feather light, but when Ruby pulled away and caught Sapphire’s gaze both of their hearts were pounding in their chests. Their lips met again, more sure than before and lasting longer than just a brief moment in time. Sapphire unbuckled her seatbelt and began crawling over the middle console, unbuckling Ruby’s seatbelt as well and pushing her back against the car door. She soon decided that they should move to the back seat. Ruby, of course, agreed.

 

After readjusting, Ruby let out a small gasp as Sapphire wasted no time in kissing her again. She took advantage of Ruby’s parted lips, drawing out little sounds that were ringing in her ears, drowning out the music playing over the radio and anything from outside. This kiss was way different than the one Ruby had given her moments ago, and Sapphire couldn’t help but pull Ruby deeper into it, her hands making their way down Ruby’s sides and to the bottom of her BCU sweatshirt.

 

Sapphire began pulling the sweatshirt upwards, breaking the kiss only when she lifted it over her head and tossed it into the driver’s seat. Ruby’s glasses and t-shirt followed, and soon she was stripped down to only her bra and panties. They broke apart, both breathing heavily and faces flushed as Ruby continued to rub her hands up and down Sapphires back and shoulders under her sweater. 

Sapphire smiled, kissing Ruby’s left cheek and then her right cheek, and finally moving to capture her lips in a slow, lingering kiss before sitting back and beginning to undress herself.


	4. First Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Ruby, I just can’t deal with this right now.” With that she walked out and shut the door behind her.

**_Their first fight…_ **

 

Sapphire had no idea how today had gone downhill so fast.

 

It had started in the morning when both her and Ruby had walked in fifteen minutes late to Stats 162. Not only was she mad because she was rushed to get ready and she was late, but she was late on an exam day, of all days. The only reason she was able to still take it was because Ruby had talked to the professor for the course, giving some sort of explanation that Sapphire was sure was far from the truth in an attempt to cover up what had actually happened, which was that Ruby had stayed over at Sapphire’s apartment the night before and was responsible for setting the alarm, that definitely didn’t go off, to wake them up in the morning.

 

Sapphire was pretty upset by this point, but it got worse when Ruby had walked over and handed Sapphire the blank exam with an apologetic look, mumbling something about how she could take the test but an automatic 15% would be taken off of her exam grade for being fifteen minutes late, and that Dr. Diamond herself would be grading it, not Ruby.

 

Perfect.

 

This was already a class that she struggled in, and the possibility of failing this exam would mean a long and painful conversation with her parents about how she isn’t living up to their higher education standards. Her anger only grew more when Dr. Diamond, after she handed her exam in, told Sapphire to stick around for a chat with a stern and suspicious look being passed from her to Ruby and back. Ruby just looked down at the floor, her face red with a look that Sapphire had come to recognize as shameful embarrassment.

 

After the lecture hall was cleared of the last student, Dr. Diamond sat them both down and started in on how she had noticed that the two of them were becoming awfully close, and that if Ruby wanted to remain in her TA position and if Sapphire wanted to keep a decent grade, they would begin to rethink spending time together. Ruby was fuming at the threat to their personal lives, getting ready to defend them with a statement that was sure to get them both kicked out of the university when Sapphire cut her off and simply said that they would heed the warning before grabbing her belongings and leaving with Ruby grumbling and following behind her.

 

They walked in silence all the way to Ruby’s ‘office’ in the basement of the library, and no sooner than when Sapphire shut the door did Ruby start in.

 

“You should have let me say something, Sapphire. She can’t talk to us like that.”

 

“Ruby, I know you, and you were going to get us into a lot more trouble than we were already in.”

 

Ruby began waving her arms and pacing around the tiny room as Sapphire took a seat in her desk chair. “To hell with us being in more trouble! We have a right to be with who we want and no one should be able to say anything about that, let alone threaten us!”

 

Sapphire sighed, “You may not care about consequences that much, but I do. You’re not the one who is a student receiving a grade in that class. You don’t understand how dependent my success is on being in good standing with Dr. Diamond.”

 

“Oh, you don’t think I know??? Of course I know! I was a student of hers, too! Not only that, but I _**work**_ for her, Sapph. My entrance into grad school is riding on me working with Dr. Diamond and doing research with her in order for her to write me a good recommendation letter! Despite all of that, I wasn’t about to just let her walk all over us!” Ruby continued pacing, steam practically coming out of her ears when she suddenly stopped, “What did you mean when you said we’d ‘heed her warning’? Are you saying that you want to rethink us being together?”

 

“Obviously not,” she replied, her responses getting colder.

 

“Then why would you even say that???” Ruby asked, her eyes tearing up.

 

“I was just trying to get us out of that situation.” She started packing up her things to get ready for her next class. She stood up and put her backpack on her shoulders before walking over to the door.  
  
“Where are you going?” Ruby asked, arms crossed and face heated.

 

Sapphire sighed and opened the door, “I’m going to my next class. If I’m going to fail one class, I need to make sure I’m doing well in my others.”  
  
“You’re not going to fai—”

 

“Ruby, I just can’t deal with this right now.” With that she walked out and shut the door behind her.

 

She finished up her class schedule for the day and skipped her usual library study time to avoid potentially seeing Ruby, walking directly back to her apartment and into her room. She shut the door behind her and fell down face-forward on her bed, taking a minute to decompress. With no more responsibilities to distract her, the emotions of the day began to catch up, and she felt her face get hot. A couple of tears trailing down her cheeks were soon accompanied by sniffles, which then turned into full on crying as she realized how upset her and Ruby had been with each other earlier and how this whole, dumb situation had caused them to get into a fight that hadn’t even been necessary.

 

She picked up the nearest thing to wipe her face with and noticed when she was done drying her eyes that she had just used the sleeve of Ruby’s BCU sweatshirt that had been left here from the night before. This, of course, started a whole new bout of crying as Sapphire had another realization about just how much she missed Ruby, and had been missing her all day. All she wanted to do now was fix things. She quickly started walking back to campus and almost made it to the library before she spotted Ruby sitting on a porch swing in the gazebo area outside of the math building.

 

Sapphire walked over and sat down next to her, noticing that her eyes were also red and puffy.

 

“Hi…” she said, barely a whisper. There was no response, so she waited a little bit before beginning her apology.

 

“I’m sorry, Ruby,” she started, keeping some distance between them. “I’m sorry about what I said to Dr. Diamond this morning, I promise you I didn’t mean anything by it. And, I’m sorry that I took away the chance for you to say what you wanted to her.” She sighed and scooted a bit closer to the other girl, “You’re so brave for standing up for what’s right, and you care for others so deeply.” She shakily reached over and took her hand, “I really, really like you, and I don’t care about grades or judgemental professors or anything else. I just care about you.”

 

A few seconds of silent panic went by before Ruby lightly squeezed Sapphire’s hand and scooted the rest of the way towards her until their thighs were touching. “I’m really sorry, too, Sapph. I know I can be a real hothead sometimes, and I need to think before I make things worse for myself and others.” She sighed and looked at Sapphire with a small smile, “I really like you, too. I want more than anything for this to work.” Sapphire smiled and kissed her before leaning her head on her shoulder. 

They sat there for a bit, swinging and enjoying how all of the tension from earlier was now completely gone before Ruby had a realization, “You know, I could always hack into the gradebook and give you a 100% on the exam. Forget Diamond and her dumb rules!” Sapphire laughed and shoved Ruby’s arm.

 

“Um, absolutely not. That’s cheating!”

 

“Not exactly! Also, I could definitely offer you some special, exclusive extra credit opportunities,” she said with a wink and an assault of neck kisses.

 

“Ruby!” Sapphire squealed in surprise, “No girlfriend of mine is about to ruin her chances at a master’s over some stupid, 100 level stats exam.” Ruby laughed and offered her that goofy grin that always managed to make her heart skip a beat. “Besides, I have my own extra credit ideas to go through with first.”


	5. First Drunken Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After they had both changed into cozy pajamas, Ruby had dug out the bottle of vodka from her freezer and grabbed two mugs.

_**Even their first drunken night together…** _

 

Had it been a mistake to drink an entire bottle of vodka between the two of them? Maybe, but, by the time Sapphire had thought that it might not be such a good idea they were already half a bottle in and her brain was no longer functioning with the rationality that she normally had.

 

It’s not like this was a regular thing for them. This was a special occasion. They had been officially dating for six months now, after all, and while they both didn’t particularly care about acknowledging month-a-versaries, they didn’t mind adding it in with Valentine’s Day and having a little celebration.

 

Ruby had done a bang up job of setting up her romantic surprise. She’d even given Amethyst $20 and her car keys for the night to assure them some privacy. Not that Amethyst wouldn’t have done just about anything for her best friend and her girlfriend; she loved them together. Extra insurance never hurt, though.

 

Sapphire walked in the door that evening to find that Ruby had built a little fort in her apartment living room, laying out every blanket and pillow she could find down on the ground to make things as comfy as possible. She had even lit a few candles and placed them all around. Those, combined with the Christmas tree lights still strung up from the holidays and the snowfall outside showing through the window, had transformed Ruby’s living room into something truly magical. It reminded Sapphire of the top of Brooding Hill.

 

After they had both changed into cozy pajamas, Sapphire borrowing sweatpants, fuzzy socks, and Ruby’s BCU sweatshirt, Ruby had dug out a bottle of vodka from her freezer and grabbed two mugs. She filled them up, gave the sappiest, sweetest, tooth-rotting Valentine’s Day toast that Sapphire had ever heard, and clinked their mugs together before throwing all of hers back and then going for more. Sapphire was just going to sip hers slowly, but something about Ruby was always daring her to be bolder and take risks, so she said to hell with it and knocked hers back, too. She gestured her mug towards Ruby for a refill, and was met with a look that was a mixture of shock and awe.

 

“Marry me,” was all she said, and Sapphire giggled and shoved a laughing Ruby down into a nearby pillow before filling her mug up herself.

 

Fast-forward a couple hours, and the effects of the alcohol were in full swing. The giggling and laughing was now taking up most of their conversation, and they had scoot so close to each other that they were practically on top of one another. That, of course, led to some rather risqué behavior, which in the middle of Ruby had paused and pulled away from Sapphire’s neck, gazing down at her with a look of pure adoration.

 

The trail of lipstick from Ruby’s mouth to her neck and collar bone that Sapphire was responsible for caught Sapphire’s eye, and after following that she looked back up and took in the sight of the girl on top of her. Sapphire was captivated by Ruby’s deep, chocolate brown eyes, the blush on her cheeks that she was surely matching, her kiss-swollen lips…

 

Ruby ran her thumb over her bottom lip, causing Sapphire’s breath to hitch and her stomach to do backflips. Ruby dipped down and captured Sapphire’s lips in a slow and meticulous kiss that completely contradicted the nature of the kisses they had just been sharing. She pulled away again with the same look, stroking her cheek.

 

“I love you.”

 

Sapphire’s heart stopped and all of the air left her lungs. Maybe it was just the alcohol in her gut, but she was quickly becoming overwhelmed with a burning warmth that she had never felt before in her whole life.

 

“I love you, too.”


	6. This Sweatshirt's Seen Better Days, Babe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Plus, exams aren’t warm and fluffy when students hand them in.”

By the time Ruby had come home from work, Sapphire had gotten all of the laundry washed, dried, folded, and put away. Ruby walked into the living room and saw her wife sitting on the couch, reading. Putting her things down in the nearby chair, Ruby sat next to Sapphire, lifting up her legs and the blanket she was under to put them on top of her lap.

 

Sapphire marked her place and set the book down. “Hey, you,” Sapphire said, leaning forward and offering Ruby a quick kiss, “How was work?”

 

Ruby took her glasses off and leaned her head on the back of the couch, closing her eyes. “It was good. Just exam after exam after exam. All day today. It got pretty boring after a while.”

 

“Sounds about like my day. All I did was laundry.”

Ruby perked up at this. “What? You got to do laundry? I’m so jealous!”

 

Sapphire laughed, “Ru, giving out exams and doing laundry are almost the same thing. Both are just boring, repetitive chores.”  
  
“Yeah, but I don’t have to grade towels and blankets.” Sapphire laughed again, “Plus, exams aren't warm and fluffy when students hand them in.”

 

“I would trade laundry for exams any day.” Sapphire smiled as Ruby grabbed her hand and began tracing patterns on it.

 

“Speaking of warm and fluffy, I see you’ve taken my old BCU sweatshirt captive again. How long before I get it back this time?” Ruby teased.

“Hey now, it’s not my fault that it’s the comfiest sweatshirt in this house and that I get cold easily!”

Ruby looked her up and down with a flirty smile, “I must say, you do look damn fine in it. Plus, I love seeing my girl represent my favorite math department. What are the chances of me convincing you to _only_ be wearing this?”

 

Ruby winked and Sapphire blushed and rolled her blue eyes, “You are such a nerd. I washed it today and was thinking about how much I missed you, so I decided to pull it on.”

 

After saying that, she was met with a big, goofy grin. “Awww, I missed you, too, Saph,” They shared another kiss and as they pulled apart, Ruby started plucking at the tears on the cuffs of the crewneck. “I think this sweatshirt’s seen better days, babe.”

 

“True,” Sapphire said, feeling sentimental and just plain happy to have Ruby sitting next to her, “But, I love this old thing.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, friends! I hope you liked it!
> 
> Much Love,
> 
> OhNoCows


End file.
